Reading and Literacy Support

Reading and literacy are fundamental to our curriculum and central to pupils’ success. We believe a love of reading and the ability to communicate effectively is crucial to both personal development and an essential skill for lifelong learning. 

At the heart of our curriculum is a clear focus on vocabulary and reading. We believe that every student has the right to learn to read well and to experience the joy, curiosity, and empowerment that reading brings. Our collective vision is that every pupil, regardless of background or need, becomes a fluent, confident, and enthusiastic reader who reads both for purpose and for pleasure.

Every faculty embeds reading, writing, vocabulary, and oracy into their curriculum so that all students can access and thrive within a knowledge-rich, academic environment. 

Literacy is woven into planning, teaching, and assessment to ensure that students can develop their skills across the curriculum: 

• Students learn to think, speak, and write like subject specialists.
• Studentscan access challenging texts through the development of academic vocabulary and comprehension. 
• Fluency, confidence, and independence in reading and writing are fostered.
• Targeted, inclusive support removes barriers to learning.

Reading in English

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” —Victor Hugo

Reading is integral to English lessons at Acklam Grange. Our curriculum has been designed to develop confident, skilled and independent readers by providing a wide range of rich and purposeful reading opportunities within English lessons. We aim to strengthen students’ core reading skills through explicit instruction, carefully selected texts and structured opportunities for reading both in lessons and through regular access to the school’s Learning Resource Centre. Text choices are planned to broaden cultural capital and challenge students’ skills and beliefs appropriately, whilst also promoting curiosity and a love of reading.

We support reading development through targeted skill-based work, including explicit vocabulary instruction, comprehension strategies and oracy-based approaches.

The use of the Bedrock Learning programme in Years 7 and 8 reinforces and extends students’ disciplinary and academic language whilst promoting reading fluency and comprehension over time

Through consistent reading routines and a coherent approach to literacy, our aim is that all students will become more fluent, resilient and engaged readers who can access the full curriculum and succeed beyond the classroom.

Targeted Literacy Intervention 

The reading ability of students is assessed via Bedrock Learning’s Standardised online reading assessment alongside in class observations and assessments.  Each coloured profile is an indicator of the reading ability of students and of how accessible students will find the curriculum.  

Literacy Profiles are shared with all staff to enable them to adjust resources and provide targeted in class support.

Students identified as requiring additional reading support are further screened on a one-to-one basis to enable us to establish their individual needs.  

A targeted system of literacy intervention supports the ability of all students to make rapid and sustained progress across the curriculum. Each wave of reading intervention is designed to target the specific needs of students at each reading development stage. 

Students with specific reading needs access one or more phases of targeted intervention.  

1. Lexonic Leap (Phoneme recognition and decoding) 
2. Lexonic Advance (Decoding and reading fluency) 
3. Inference and Fluency training (Development of Inference and comprehension skills to equip students with the ability to understand texts independently) 
4. Reading Mentor support – Reading mentors support students in selecting accessible reading material to develop confidence and fluency and provide students with the opportunity to continue to practise skills developed in completed intervention strands.